I. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to communication, and more specifically to techniques for synchronization in a wireless communication network.
II. Background
Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, etc. These wireless networks may be multiple-access networks capable of supporting multiple users by sharing the available network resources. Examples of such multiple-access networks include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) networks, Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) networks, Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, and Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks.
A wireless communication network may include a number of macro base stations that can support communication for a number of devices. A device may be a home base station, a user equipment (UE), a relay, etc. It may be desirable for the devices to be synchronized in time. Time synchronization may be achieved by having the devices (i) directly align their timing to a reference time source or (ii) indirectly align their timing to the reference time source via macro base stations. The reference time source may be a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) such as Global Positioning System (GPS). However, a device may not have GNSS capability and/or may not be able to receive GNSS signals (e.g., due to deployment indoors). Furthermore, the macro base stations may be asynchronous. It may be desirable to perform synchronization even in such scenarios.